Where citizens feel powerless to change things, defer to authority and let others crap on their heads by letting others do their thinking for them, the description above is accurate. lonesome is closer to truth but only where revolutions are lost. It all depends where we see ourselves in the pecking order.

The progressive changes we've seen in both our countries over the last 50-60 years have been so fast and fundamental to be revolutionary i.e. US civil rights and Canadian medicare. Today, the hundreds of millions in the streets over the last few years are realizing they must organize to make things happen.

All the protest is a perfect fit for elites in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionary definitions: "a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society." The hoi polloi is fertile with elites toppling old and unintelligent ways of doing things.

Citizens who think of themselves as part of sovereign communities and take their responsibilities seriously don't buttle to anyone. Those among them who are "superior in terms of abilities or qualities" to remove unwarranted governance are elites.